St. Louis CITY SC recorded an emphatic 4-0 win against Real Salt Lake to maintain a perfect 5-0-0 record to start the season. After a goalless first half, CITY SC scored four unanswered second half goals to earn another huge three points. CITY SC rallied behind goals from Niko Gioacchini, João Klauss (2) and midfielder Rasmus Alm, who scored his first goal of the season.
Five Straight Wins
With the win against Real Salt Lake, St. Louis CITY SC starts the MLS season with a perfect 5-0-0 record. CITY SC joins the 1996 LA Galaxy team and the 2012 Sporting Kansas City team, as the only clubs to have collected 15 points in their first five matches of a season in MLS history.
Five Goals for Klauss
St. Louis CITY SC forward and Designated Player João Klauss is on red hot form at the moment. The Brazilian scored twice to take his tally to five goals in five games this season which is good for second in the goal scoring charts behind Jordan Morris. Klauss has continued his streak of having a goal contribution in every game this season and joins the company of only five players in the last 20 years who have been involved in a goal in each of their first five MLS matches: Sporting KC’s Alan Pulido in 2020, Portland’s Brian Fernandez in 2019, Montreal’s Blerim Dzemalli in 2017, Seattle’s Nicolas Lodeiro in 2016, and Columbus’ Federico Higuain in 2012.
Roman Bürki’s Second Straight Clean Sheet
CITY SC goalkeeper and captain Roman Bürki recorded his second clean sheet of the season after recording eight saves in the match, including a huge stop before halftime to keep the match level.
Niko Gioacchini Scores First Again
Gioacchini has scored first for the second straight game in a row. The forward now has two goals and an assist in five games. Gioacchini has formed a formidable partnership with Klauss, with both players finding the back of the net in the same game for the second week in a row this season.
Eduard Löwen the Provider
St. Louis CITY SC’s Designated Player Löwen recorded his fourth assist of the season after rolling a pass in for Alm who buried CITY SC’s fourth goal of the night. Löwen is tied for the most assist in MLS this season.
Additional Notes
- CITY SC becomes the sixth team in MLS history to open a season with multiple goals in each of the first five games, and the first to do so since 2019 LAFC and 2019 Toronto FC
- CITY SC has a league high 11 goal differential through five games this season, which is the best ever start in MLS history.
- CITY SC joins the 1996 LA Galaxy team and the 2012 Sporting Kansas City team, as the only clubs to have collected 15 points in their first five matches of a season in MLS history.
- Eduard Löwen recorded his fourth assist of the season, which is tied for first in MLS.
- CITY SC goalkeeper and captain Roman Bürki recorded his second clean sheet of the season after recording eight saves in the match, including a huge stop before halftime to keep the match level.
- Klauss now has five goals and an assist in five games so far this season.
- Klauss has scored or assisted in all five of CITY SC’s matches this season.
- CITY SC joins the 1996 LA Galaxy team and the 2012 Sporting Kansas City team, as the only clubs to have collected 15 points in their first five matches of a season in MLS history.
- CITY SC has scored 15 goals in the league which is highest goals by any team this season. CITY SC’s 15 goals has tied the record for the most goals in history through the first five games of the season
- With his goal tonight, Rasmus Alm became CITY SC’s eight goal scorer this season.
Goal-Scoring Plays
STL – Niko Gioacchini, 47 minute: Nicholas Gioacchini left footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Indiana Vassilev with a cross following a corner.
STL – João Klauss, 61 minute: João Klauss right footed volley from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.
STL – João Klauss, 66 minute: João Klauss right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner.
STL – Rasmus Alm, 76 minute : Rasmus Alm right footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Eduard Löwen.
Next Game
St. Louis CITY SC returns to CITYPARK next Saturday, April 1 to take on Minnesota United FC at home.
Real Salt Lake (1-3-0, 3 pts) vs. St. Louis CITY SC (5-0-0, 15 pts)
Mar. 25, 2023 – America First Field (Sandy, Utah)
Goals by Half 1
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
St. Louis CITY SC 0 4
Scoring Summary:
STL: Gioacchini (Vassilev), 47
STL: Klauss, 61
STL: Klauss, 67
STL: Alm (Löwen), 76
Misconduct Summary:
RSL: Damir Kreilach (caution), 13
STL: Lucas Bartlett (caution), 55
RSL: Emeka Eneli (caution), 68
RSL: Justen Glad (caution), 75
STL: Rasmus Alm (caution), 85
Lineups:
RSL: GK Zac MacMath; D Andrew Brody, D Brayan Vera, D Justen Glad, D Emeka Eneli; M Pablo Ruiz, M Damir Kreilach © (Ilijah Paul 72’), M Justin Meram (Jefferson Savarino 60’), M Carlos Gomez (Danny Musovski 72’), M Jasper Loffelsend; F Anderson Julio (Maikel Chang 72’)
Substitutes Not Used: D Delentz Pierre; M Scott Caldwell; GK Tomas Gomez, F Bertin Jacquesson, M Moses Nyeman
TOTAL SHOTS: 19; SHOTS ON GOAL: 8; FOULS: 8; OFFSIDES:
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Jake Nerwinski, D Tim Parker, D Lucas Bartlett, D John Nelson; M Jared Stroud (Isak Jensen 60’), M Eduard Löwen (Njabulo Blom 77’), M Indiana Vassilev (Akil Watts 77’); M Tomáš Ostrák (Rasmus Alm 60’); F João Klauss; F Nicholas Gioacchini (Célio Pompeu 86’)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Ben Lundt; D Josh Yaro; D Selmir Pidro; F Samuel Adeniran
TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 8; FOULS: 20; OFFSIDES:
Referee: Mark Allatin
Assistant Referees: Jason White, Diego Blas
Fourth Official: Matthew Thompson
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
AVAR: Jonathan Johnson
Venue: America First Field
Weather: Clear, 31 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Video Recording Postgame Interviews: Video (Will be loaded in shortly)
Audio recording of the interviews: Interviews
ST. LOUIS CITY SC HEAD COACH BRADLEY CARNELL
On an overview of the match…
It was one of those games where we knew coming into it was going to be really difficult. I played here in Salt Lake a few times – well, played, coached here a few times, and it’s never easy. You have to weather the storm, ride the wave. And we knew over time, we would be able to get on top of that. So yeah, just magnificent night. Roman Bürki comes up trumps. You know, many, many times, he got us out of tight situations. Made two magnificent world class saves. And then, you know, I have to applaud, you know, the team that started and then the substitutions that came in, you know — we made a slight tactical tweak in the second half. And then the energy from the guys coming in the second half was half the battle won. So, Klauss up top, Roman at the back — what a magnificent performance.
On what he saw from Isak Jensen…
Yeah, so a lot of energy. I saw a lot of defending on the front foot. So, a lot of what we needed at that time and what we wanted. So, we spoke about this at halftime. We said, you know, we survived the first half, which was the hardest — it’s going to be the hardest half. So, we knew we’d be able to get a grip on the game. We had confidence in the group. We, like I said, we tweaked a few things, and then Isak is the type of player in transition, you know. He earns the right to be on the front foot. He wins us possession of the balls. He defends forwards. His pressing triggers are excellent, you know, one of the best in the team. And then what I liked is the overall performance in the transition, you know, so we work in these things every single day at training, operating the transition moments and yeah, it was just a joy to watch. The second half was amazing.
On how Burki’s save before the half changed the game…
Yeah, we spoke about the difficulties of playing in Salt Lake, so he comes up in a massive, massive moment. And I just thought from the onset, we got the kind of moment wrong. How are we going to beat this team? We knew they were going to be, you know – we had to win the battles first. I thought we tried to solve too many things with the ball. The field was not great. The field was bumpy. The field was not wet. So, there were a few things that were against us in our normal run of play. But credit to the boys. We ground out a way to succeed, a willingness to get over the hump and get on to the next phase of the game. The next phase in terms of managing the game was exceptional from the boys, but you need leaders in the team. Löwen, Klauss, Bürki – a lot of good guys, Tim makes a comeback performance. You know, Lucas Bartlett really assured at the back. Jake Nerwinski was great for the duration of the whole game, and then, you know, at the end of the game, we just kind of managed the game. So, yeah, very proud of everyone.
On whether the team’s performances in the preseason informed his expectations for the team…
No, I don’t think you’re way off. I mean, obviously the preseason games and who we managed and, you know, we didn’t just play starters. We mixed the groups. Only towards the latter end of the preseason did we start mixing groups. I think that’s part of our success. It was a preseason where, you know, in the first time, we played every three days, every four days to give everybody minutes, to connect all these minutes. I think, you know, a lot of guys — we averaged around 300 minutes in preseason. So, for moments like this, for moments that an Isak Jensen, a Célio Pompeu, Rasmus Alm — like the guys who might not, and the Tomáš Ostrák’s of the world, start a game. So, you know, I thought we managed the preseason really well with different looks from different opponents. And I thought we were competitive, right? So, against Philadelphia, Vancouver, LA Galaxy, you know, we had some learning moments. We had some growing moments. We operated on and off the field as a unit. We spoke about a lot of things in preseason. We did a lot of team building. And I think you can see the benefits and the rewards of that now. Now, it’s our job to keep humble, remain grounded. And just look for the next game, no more.
On how special the historic start is to the players…
Yeah, I told the boys before the game, I don’t care about history. I’ll care in our story, right. So, for sure we’re humble, but there is a bit of swag about this group, too. They know the challenge. They know the task. Some of them have league experience. Some of them don’t. But each and every single one of them brings something to the table. And it’s my job to, you know, manage them. It’s my job to make sure that, you know, we keep guys together. To make sure that, you know, the Selmir Pidro’s of the world — who’s training really, really well, I wish I could get him in the game. It’s really tough for him. Sam Adineran doesn’t get a run tonight. Josh Yaro, you know, he’s one of the leaders of our group and you know, it’s tough. So, it’s my job to manage that. But I think you can see — we work for each other, and it’s a special group because you can see in the 90th minute when we’re trying to chase, you know, keep Roman’s clean sheet clean. We want to hold the zero column, and we want to reward Roman with that because we know he’s a goalkeeper worthy of that and the performance that he gave out tonight. You can see everyone from the first to the 90th Minute fought for him.
On whether he’s ever cleaned out a stadium before…
I haven’t been a coach that long. So, I don’t even look what’s going on around me. You know, I kind of get the tunnel vision and just yeah, we just focus on the job at hand. But to see Klauss running back to that corner, it energized me for another 15, 20 minutes. So, really the game ended there.
On Alm’s role and performance…
Yeah, I told Rasmus he’s going to school last weekend, so he owed me one. But yesterday, he was working hard in training. He actually stayed extra after training. I said, ‘Ras, it’s actually too much now, and he said, ‘No, I’m just trying to get through, you know, the movement on the ball. I’m just trying to hit that far post. I’m trying to hit that near post.’ So yeah, we do a lot of work with the guys, you know, IDP stuff, you know, post trainings we show them videos. So, everyone’s bought in. Everyone’s committed to the cause. You know, we have a staff who empties the tank. It’s almost, you know, early arrivals, go home late. It’s just the story of being a coach and being a player in this league. So, yeah, I’m just happy that everyone’s bought into the process. And it’s not easy to play the way we play and to see the guys reap the rewards — because sometimes you can play this way and not get rewarded. So, right now we’re just reaping the rewards of momentum. And when you have momentum, it’s difficult to stop and with Rasmus, he’s one of those players. He’s earned his reward.
On Klauss continuing to score goals…
Yeah. So, we knew how tough it is in Salt Lake to play the pressing game and always on the front foot and always tightening the screws. So, we had to manage that for Klauss a little bit, and we had slightly different pickup points tactically, different triggers. So, which for us, work out in the end, obviously because then we find more spaces. You know, I even missed — I missed his second goal. I missed that one. I heard it was again a random back pass. I haven’t seen it yet. I was busy on the bench, you know, discussing the next substitution. So, you know, we just tried to put him into spaces in the second half. We changed the formation a little bit to reward him in the in the transition moments. So yeah, listen, he’s another guy that’s fully committed. And you can see he’s getting stronger. He’s getting healthier, he’s getting fitter. And he’s becoming, you know, a real menace.
On how they were able to take advantage of RSL’s tactical changes…
Yeah, I mean, listen, they were spreading the field a lot. You know, they were playing an expensive game, and the big switches – we thought that might be a big topic because of our tactical approach. So, they did exactly what we thought in the first half. And we had to ride that wave when they started making some tactical changes. We knew with the changes, bringing in Rasmus and Isak, with some of the triggers we just had to be a bit more brave. We had to be a little bit more on the front foot, and we had to take space a lot sooner. We had to press a lot harder. And by pressing a lot harder, you actually run a little bit less of a distance, so the guys could see now, you know, do the old do the hard work early and get rewarded in the transition phase. We’re higher up the field. And then again, we just had to manage that first half in the right way, and I thought we did. Roman comes up trumps at the end of the half. But second half, we knew we needed to make the changes, and we got rewarded for them.
On the value of getting Tim Parker back and if it was an easy call to have him play…
100%. He said to me today, ‘Brad, I’m good.’ Like he’s been training now on his own for a couple of days, and then he did the last few training sessions with us. Did all the fitness tests, came through fine. We traveled with 21 just to be sure, because you never know — maybe in the warm up or something. So, you know, just again, just part of the strategy, just part of the planning and making sure we’ve got every little detail covered. And yeah, we have weapons at the back, guys willing to defend the channels, guys willing to step in in the midfield and win those deals, and then we got guys willing to, you know, come back in the game. The strikers work hard as a unit. So, I think a very good performance again in the second half, especially from everyone.
Roman Bürki
On his save to keep the score level before halftime…
Yeah, it was definitely an important moment because I had the feeling that we struggled a little bit with our with our game, not only defensive wise also offensively. It felt like we had no solutions, no real chances and they played better. I’m happy that I was able to help my team at this time and after in the second half. We did way better than in the first half.
On if he felt in preseason that the team could go 5-0…
To be honest, I knew that we had good qualities as soon as we played our first preseason game. But I mean 5-0, like even if you are like, not just a new team; even if you are like a team who’s already used to playing in MLS, it’s a big achievement. But for us, to be honest, it’s not just like, we are 5-0, we are just going to work. It’s more important that we are still going the same way. It’s the same work ethic, the same discipline. And the work week in, week out and that’s for me, that’s way more important.
On going from expansion talks to now best team start ever conversations…
I think we have a really good mix of really cool guys who are really good with the ball. Some who really cares about how it looks and also a little bit a mix between just the guys who are working, working and sometimes really don’t care if you look good or not in the game. The most important thing is to win. So, we keep ourselves accountable every day. Every day in training. And I think our swagger is just that we are all workers we know what we are doing. We know every day when we come to training what we have to do and what we have to deliver to be successful at the weekend. Like I said the mix is great and just very happy about the team but to be honest, when I could ask the guys now or we’ll ask the guys what what is next week. They will definitely answer before we go to the game, we have to work hard to be prepared for the next game. So that’s usually our go to before the game.
Niko Gioacchini
On Roman’s save in the first half…
Yes, we’re able to keep that score 0-0 In the first half. You know, although we struggled, I think that was a good thing to be able to keep that coming into the second half because one nil down is a little harder to come back to. So yeah, Roman makes a legendary save and keeps us in the game. And then we come into the second half with a small tactical change, and, you know, our same heart and relentless mentality. So that’s how we came to the first case. First goal, good cross. I happen make a good run the ball came to my feet have a good finish and then we’re able to score 2,3,4 goals after that so you know it’s a great team effort in the second half.
On his relationship with Klauss up top…
Chemistry is built with time. I think you naturally understand certain players and I think we naturally understand each other because we’ve been together for a little bit now. So, you know, we talk to each other on the field. We know how we move. We know what our movements are, we know what we want when we call for the ball and move for the ball. When you make runs, we understand each other and that something is showing in the game. So, you know let’s just keep it going and I enjoy playing with it. It’s really a pleasure. I couldn’t be happier with anyone else.
On the team’s start to the league…
It’s memorable. It’s something that I think every player will remember for the rest of their lives. You know, I don’t think it happens. You know, it hasn’t happened yet. Five wins from an expansion team. Even five wins in a row in the league is even for teams that have been here for a while not easy. As you can see in past seasons. You know, we have a group of guys who are willing to work together, who are humble and just relentless, we have that mentality. You know, the coach has given us that confidence to you know, follow what he does and we do and it comes as a result so it gives us even more motivation to continue. As I think I’ve said before, when you have a team, with 20 plus boys who understand each other, and don’t fight each other and give each other the best of themselves on and off the pitch. It really does make a difference on Saturday nights. And it’s something that we’re going to keep doing and keep working towards. The season is so long, so 5-0 is great, but you know, we’re on to the next game already.
